Luke was waiting outside on the landing when Isobel emerged in a brief, filmy slip dress the colour of her eyes. He gave her a look which brought a blush to her face, and took her hand as they went downstairs together.
'Why didn't you just come in to wait for me, Luke?'
'Because I would have wanted to lay you down on that bed again,' he informed her huskily. 'And you would have objected because you look so perfect in that delightful dress.'
Isobel smiled at him as they reached the veranda. 'I'm glad you like it. I've been saving it for a special occasion.'
'Every night with you is a special occasion,' he said, and took her hand to stroll out into the garden. 'How is the foot, Isobel?'
'It's fine now, really. Which is good, because it has to get me home tomorrow.'
'Let me fly you to the airport in the helicopter,' he urged, but she shook her head.
'No, thanks. I'll go back on the boat, the way I came. The journey will get me back to normal by degrees.' She smiled wryly. 'Life at home is going to seem very humdrum from now on.'
'Who will meet you at the airport?'
'Joanna. I'll send her a text just before I board the plane.' Isobel breathed in the scent of the flowers as they skirted the pool to make for the row of Aleppo pines lining the cliff edge. She gazed down on the sunset-gilded beach. 'It's such a short time since you found me down there, yet in other ways it seems as though I've known you forever.'
'I believe we met in another life,' said Luke, and put his arm round her. 'Come. We shall go back and toast the setting sun with a glass of wine.'
Later, Isobel had little appetite for the mezedes Eleni had left them; though the appetizers were as delicious as all her food. 'I'm not so hungry tonight,' she said apologetically.
'Nor I.' He raised her hand to his and kissed it. 'Isobel, I need to talk to you. And the best place for that is bed.'
'Pillow talk?'
He shook his head. 'Vital, important talk.'
Isobel disliked the sound of this; her misgivings intensified when Luke opened the bedroom door for her, but remained outside. 'I will join you in a few moments,' he said, surprising her. 'Tonight, it is better you undress yourself.'
His tone left Isobel so uneasy that, after undressing quickly, she put a nightgown over her head. Nudity was inappropriate for a serious talk. She went back to sit on the bed, and while she waited for Luke sent a text to Joanna to confirm that she was returning tomorrow on schedule, and would ring just before boarding the plane.
Luke arrived as she closed her phone. 'Who were you telephoning?' He was wearing a towelling robe for once, and added to Isobel's misgivings by taking the chair beside the bed instead of joining her on it.
'Just a text to Joanna, to confirm the travel arrangements.' Isobel eyed him narrowly. 'Is something wrong, Luke?'
He scowled. 'You are leaving tomorrow and you ask me if something is wrong?' When she said nothing, he leaned forward, his face urgent. 'It is necessary that I talk to you like this, without touching, so you know that my words are not said in the heat of the moment.'
She stiffened. 'Could you just get on and say these words, Luke. You're worrying me.'
His eyes softened. 'That was not my intention. In fact,' he added heavily, 'I think I have made a mistake. It would have been better to talk after making love.'
'For heaven's sake, Luke,' she said in desperation. 'Tell me what's wrong!'
'Nothing wrong, agapi mou. If we had more time together I would have waited longer to lead up to this, but you are leaving tomorrow. What I have to say is very simple. I want so much more of you than your holiday has allowed me,' he said with emphasis, his eyes urgent on hers. 'Listen to my plan, Isobel. I shall buy you a house in Athens, or Thessaloniki, whichever you prefer. You can paint there as much as you like. I will give you anything your heart desires, and spend as much time with you as I can.' He leaned nearer. 'Think of all the happy days-and nights-we could enjoy together, Isobel.'
She thought of them in silence so prolonged he grew restive. 'Are you serious?' she said at last.
Luke's eyebrows shot together. 'The idea does not please you?'
Isobel took in a deep breath. 'Luke, we come from different cultures, so I don't know quite where I stand on this. Are you asking me to be one of your pillow friends?'
'No! There will be no one else in my life when you come to me, Isobel.'
'So my official job description would be mistress?'
He smiled indulgently. 'Not my mistress, Isobel-my lover!'
Same thing. 'And what would happen when you marry?'
'There is no fear of that. Like you, I do not want marriage. But I want you so much it is agony to part with you, hriso mou.' His eyes locked with hers. 'Say yes, Isobel. Say you will come to me.'
She sighed and shook her head. 'I'm sorry. The answer's no.'
Luke leapt to his feet, his eyes incredulous, as though he couldn't believe she'd refused. Then they hardened as his face set into the familiar blank mask. 'I have made a most humiliating mistake. I believed you had come to care for me, and shared my pain at the thought of parting. Neither of us desires marriage; therefore my plan seemed the perfect solution. I was obviously wrong.' His mirthless smile sent shivers down her spine. 'In time I shall be able to laugh at myself for such hubris. But not yet. Goodnight, Isobel.'
She stared in anguish as the door closed behind him, then burrowed into the pillows feeling as though her world was breaking in pieces around her. At last she went into the bathroom to wash her tear-stained face. She had expected to spend their last night in bed together but, as that wasn't going to happen, she might as well pack. She took her bags from the wardrobe and began folding clothes and rolling up underwear, putting shoes in what polythene bags she had left, and reminded herself that her drawing materials were downstairs and would have to be packed in the morning.
She worked like an automaton, her brain still reeling from the shock of Luke's proposition. She might be madly in love with him, but Luke's offer-or demand, more like it-would mean uprooting herself from her life, and parting from her friends and everything familiar. And for what? Marriage was a tricky enough relationship, but the insecurity of living as Luke's mistress, lover, or whatever, was out of the question. He obviously intended her to lack for nothing, which probably meant an allowance of some kind. And, with money involved, the whole idea left a nasty taste in her mouth. Besides, what would happen when the arrangement came to an end? She might love Luke with a depth and passion which almost frightened her, but she valued her independence-and her self-respect-too highly to agree to such a dubious arrangement. Even with Lukas Andreadis.
Not that there was any point in beating herself up about it because none of that was going to happen. Right now, she just had to go home, back to her old life, and learn to live without Lukas Andreadis as part of it. But to part from him this way, like enemies instead of lovers, was cutting her to the heart. If they were never going to see each other again she desperately wanted-needed-one last memory to look back on when she was home, alone and lonely.
Before she could change her mind, Isobel limped as fast as she could out onto the landing to knock on Luke's door. When there was no answer she turned away blindly but ran into a hard, familiar body and Luke snatched her up in his arms, kissing her tears away as he carried her back to her room.
'What did you want, Isobel?' he demanded as he laid her on the bed.
No point in lying. 'I couldn't bear to leave without making up.'
'Nor could I.' He shrugged off his robe, took her nightgown over her head and covered her body with his, devouring her with hot, desperate kisses she responded to with such impassioned fervour they surged together at once, their emotions running so high after their quarrel they achieved culmination so swiftly Isobel shook in Luke's arms with the force of it.
Luke looked down into her swollen eyes. 'Does this mean you have changed your mind?' he panted.
'No.' She sucked in a deep breath. 'Though you could be forgiven for thinking I had by the way I-I-'
'Participated so joyously in our loving?'
She gave a choked little laugh. 'Shamelessly, you mean.'
'There is no shame in a man and a woman giving each other such rapture, agapi mou,' he assured her and held her close, rubbing his cheek against hers. 'Think of the joy we can give each other in future, Isobel. You may run away tomorrow, but I shall not give up. We were created to be together. When you were stolen from me I was in hell thinking I had lost you.' He kissed her fiercely. 'Fate sent you to me, and what I find I keep. It is useless to fight fate, hriso mou. You are mine.'